USB-C is an industry standard still in development at the time of this writing. Among other improvements over previous versions of USC standards, it contains more pins (24), has identical connectors at each end so that either end may be plugged into either device, and each connector is reversible (it may be rotated 180 degrees before insertion and will still work properly). Another improvement is that it permits greatly increased power to be transferred through the USB-C cable. However, this increased power flow may create problems if the cable is suddenly connected or disconnected, due to the sudden change in power consumption (surge or drop) by at least one of the connected devices.
In particular, when one of the devices is a mobile PC or other device with a CPU, and with substantial power being transferred through the USB-C cable, the following challenges may be present, neither of which is corrected or compensated for by current approaches:
1) When the mobile PC operates as a USB-C sink (consumes power received from the cable) the power budget allocated to the CPU may need to be reduced immediately before the USB-C port is dis-connected. This would avoid the CPU drawing excessive power from its own battery after the disconnection, resulting in a possible system crash.
2) When the mobile PC operates as a USB-C source (delivers power through the cable), the power budget allocated to the CPU may need to be reduced immediately before power is provided through the USB-C cable. This would avoid overstressing the battery or the power supply due to the suddenly higher power consumption created by the device at the other end of the USB-C cable.